A Graphics card question

crimsonfire

Hi I'm in a bit of a pickle. I've shopped around (for far too long) and I'm ready to splurge on my new graphics card. Unfortunately the one I want (here) is out of stock. I'm horrendously impatient so I had a look at the HD5750 512mb for only 99 euro and it seems llike a good deal. Komplett seems to be a lot cheaper than any other site I've looked at (ebay, dabs etc).

Now the 5750 is a good price and will probably be all I need as I only game once in a while but I'd rather spend the extra few quid and get a 1gb card. I'd be crazy not to really. Anyone know of anywhere else to get the 1gb 5670 card for such a price?

cherryghost

crimsonfire wrote: »

Hi I'm in a bit of a pickle. I've shopped around (for far too long) and I'm ready to splurge on my new graphics card. Unfortunately the one I want (here) is out of stock. I'm horrendously impatient so I had a look at the HD5750 512mb for only 99 euro and it seems llike a good deal. Komplett seems to be a lot cheaper than any other site I've looked at (ebay, dabs etc).

Now the 5750 is a good price and will probably be all I need as I only game once in a while but I'd rather spend the extra few quid and get a 1gb card. I'd be crazy not to really. Anyone know of anywhere else to get the 1gb 5670 card for such a price?

What resolution would you be using? 1GB is only effective for HD resolutions and higher. Any lower, a 512mb card is more than enough

crimsonfire

My resolution is 1440x900. A 19" Acer LCD display. Doesn't require a whole lot of graphical grunt I know but I'm looking at getting a HD monitor/TV for movies, games etc while browsing on the other display in the not too distant future. So a card that can adequately handle dual screen setups would be nice.

I currently have Radeon HD3400 which is nice and quiet and does the day to day stuff but got Dawn of War 2 the other day and half the textures were missing! Plus it'd be nice to get a DX11 card now rather than later when I'm broke from sinking money into this rig

The 1gb 5670 looks like a good buy for €107 but alas they have none till the 24 June. Perhaps I should just not be so impatient and wait for it? Or is there another card around this price point I'm overlooking?

Dublin_Gunner

I'll be honest with you - don't purchase from Komplett at the moment. They are having horrendous problems fulfilling orders, and providing RMA's etc. I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole (though I have used them extensively in the past, I wouldn't now).

BTW the HD5750 512 is MUCH faster than the 5670 1GB. Don't even consider the HD5670, its a very poor card for gaming of any sort.

You have a fairly small screen by todays standards - are you planning on getting a bigger screen? 512MB card is more than enough for you - I game on a 22" and use a 512MB card (HD4870)

If its a HD5750 you're looking at, I'd rather spend €50 more, and pick up the 1GB version yourself in Peats.

At least you don't have to worry about your order, and to return it, just go back to the shop.

HD5750 1GB €154.99 Peats

Obviously, these cards can be had cheaper online.

XFX HD5750 512 €114 Dabs.ie

^^That would probably be my pick in that price range of cards.

crimsonfire

Hmmm good advice Gunner. You given me a lot to mull over.

I am looking to upgrade my display yes. It's not the worst but some colours look a bit off on it. It's a widescreen aspect 19" so it doesn't look that small but I will defo be getting my hands on a 22" (or more) HD display. Probably won't have the cash for another three months or so though .

The XFX HD5750 looks like good value actually. Also might pop into Peats and see what they have going. Perhaps I will be fine with a 512mb card for the moment as I can't see myself getting a gargantuan screen for at least a few months. Thanks!

Dublin_Gunner

crimsonfire wrote: »

Hmmm good advice Gunner. You given me a lot to mull over.

I am looking to upgrade my display yes. It's not the worst but some colours look a bit off on it. It's a widescreen aspect 19" so it doesn't look that small but I will defo be getting my hands on a 22" (or more) HD display. Probably won't have the cash for another three months or so though .

The XFX HD5750 looks like good value actually. Also might pop into Peats and see what they have going. Perhaps I will be fine with a 512mb card for the moment as I can't see myself getting a gargantuan screen for at least a few months. Thanks!

512mb is still more than enough for the time being for most games, even up to 1920x1080 resolutions.

Just don't get a poor card. Get something with a bit of grunt, the HD5750 would be the least I'd go for if you're going to play any modern games at all.

For the price (even the Peats price) its not bad value at all.

crimsonfire

So I'd possibly have to up the amount I'm willing to spend? I see what your saying yeah. If I was to go up to say €150 what would my best options be?

Solitaire

HD5750 512MB has more than enough grunt for 1440*900, but once you hit 1080p a cheap 1GB HD57*0 is a better bet.

Dublin_Gunner

crimsonfire wrote: »

So I'd possibly have to up the amount I'm willing to spend? I see what your saying yeah. If I was to go up to say €150 what would my best options be?

Still the same choices. A HD5750 or HD5770 (if you can get one for the price) would be the best bets.

Online you may get a HD5750 1GB for around €120~, or in Peats (as you're from Dublin) for €150~

Either of those cards however, should easily be able to handle pretty much anything up to 19x10 or 19x12.

If you can get a good deal on a 512MB version, then go for that. You really shouldn't need the 1GB card - though thats not to say don't buy it.

Solitaire

1GB versions can help at 1080p, otherwise you'll bottleneck the GPU a bit.

Dublin_Gunner

Solitaire wrote: »

1GB versions can help at 1080p, otherwise you'll bottleneck the GPU a bit.

They can, but how much really would be down to benchmarking, and probably in the order of 5fps or less (title dependant obviously)

For instance, I play at 19x10, with my 512MB HD4870, and in BC2, I get around 40-45fps average, with max settings bar HSAO.

So its effect on a pretty tough title, is severely diminished in that case.
http://www.techspot.com/article/255-battlefield-bad-company2-performance/page5.html

If you look at the HD4870 1GB in that performance test, at a slightly higher res, you see I get around the same frame rate, showing that even at that res, in that title, the extra ram makes no difference.

I would however never tell anyone to get a card with more ram, over a card with a more powerful GPU.

These days, the amount of video ram has been countered by the use of ultra high bandwidth ram.

So the effect more GDDR5 has, is far diminished over the effect a GDDR3 card with more ram would have, for instance.

If you look at this for instance:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3112/ati_radeon_hd_5670_512mb_video_card/index4.html

You will see there is no difference between the HD5670 1GB and 512MB, even up to 19x12. When you get to resolutions that it does matter, the GPU will be too slow anyway, regardless of the ram. (and yes, I know we're discussing the 55xx cards, but this comparison is still valid).

cherryghost

Yeah depends on the game. Fallout 3 runs horrendously on a 512mb card at 1920x1080. Runs a lot better with a 1GB card of the same family

Solitaire

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

These days, the amount of video ram has been countered by the use of ultra high bandwidth ram.

Nope, amount is needed to keep textures and shaders loaded locally and is very important in shader-heavy and/or anti-aliased environments. High bandwidth modules are being used to counter data bus width, as the wider the bus the more complex and expensive the GPU memory controller and PCB design and fabrication. 1GHz GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus has the same bandwidth as a pricier card with 1GHz GDDR3 on a 256-bit bus, but the amount of memory needed to avoid flooding the memory and PCIe buses with data that can't be stored locally due to a memory shortage stays the same.

Dublin_Gunner

Solitaire wrote: »

Nope, amount is needed to keep textures and shaders loaded locally and is very important in shader-heavy and/or anti-aliased environments. High bandwidth modules are being used to counter data bus width, as the wider the bus the more complex and expensive the GPU memory controller and PCB design and fabrication. 1GHz GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus has the same bandwidth as a pricier card with 1GHz GDDR3 on a 256-bit bus, but the amount of memory needed to avoid flooding the memory and PCIe buses with data that can't be stored locally due to a memory shortage stays the same.

And the amount needed to be loaded, even in most modern games, rarely ever goes over the 512MB buffer size.

Sure, in the few cases where this happens, a larger buffer will make a bit of a difference, but in over 90% of todays games, a larger framebuffer is nothing but marketing.

crimsonfire

I think I've settled on this. I understand Komplett are having trouble at the moment with orders but I'll be picking it up from their warehouse anyway as I don't have a credit card so delivery problems shouldn't be an issue right?

Dublin_Gunner

crimsonfire wrote: »

I think I've settled on this. I understand Komplett are having trouble at the moment with orders but I'll be picking it up from their warehouse anyway as I don't have a credit card so delivery problems shouldn't be an issue right?

Good card alright for the price.

Do you have a laser card? Just so you know they do not accept cash at the pick up point

crimsonfire

I do indeed. Might be put on the long finger for another week as there's a shiny phone has caught my eye. God I'm such a tech geek...

Thanks for the help!

Dublin_Gunner

crimsonfire wrote: »

I do indeed. Might be put on the long finger for another week as there's a shiny phone has caught my eye. God I'm such a tech geek...

Thanks for the help!

Pfft. N00b. Choosing a phone over a graphics card - you're just not hardcore yet!